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Playrate isn't everything...

Arya Riven··24 votes·1,394 views

Some champions are just popular, Thresh is just cool and has a lot of potential. Him being played a lot doesn't mean he is 'busted'. It means people want to play him. Playrate is a terrible measure of balance, because Ahri will always have more people wanting to play her than Aurelion even when he was busted, just because she is fun to play, has a fluid and smooth kit, and yes... a lot of people find her attractive. And yet he was just recently broken and was nerfed at the end of S6, because he was too strong, despite his low play rate.

People want to play things that: Fulfill a fantasy they like. Are nice too look at/hear. Feel good to play. Challenge them/fit their personality. Their favorite streamer plays them. It has high growth potential/is simple to use.

Yes, some people ARE just looking for the currently OP champions, FotM players. So play rates matter... a little. But seeing "x champion is played in x amount of games!" doesn't mean they are broken. It might just mean people like them.

21 Comments

WoonStruck6 votes

Cut down the winrate, even to just 50%, and I bet the play rate drops to 1/2 of what it is on a lot of the popular champs.

Cut down the winrate to 48%, which is still plenty good in the large majority of cases, and I bet it drops to 1/10th of the current playrate.

Lee, Riven, and Yas are pretty much the only exceptions to this rule pattern.

Nobody would play Darius if he didn't win lanes the player wouldn't normally be capable of winning with their current skill level.

Nobody would play Hec if he didn't nuke ADCs with only one offensive item from any possible angle with a bonus immunity to Flash.

Nobody would play Poppy if she wasn't braindead easy and effective.

Legacy Hydralpha1 votes

I don't speak for everyone, but back when I liked to play Poppy I did it for her visuals and VO, it was just too good to pass up.

Enloct2 votes

I dunno I find Hec pretty fun and Darius to be a lot of fun. Some people have different fantasies they are looking to fulfill here. Everyone I've talked to seems to think Swain is boring as shit but I'd personally find him to be one of the most fun champs in the game. That said a champ being OP does tend to make their playrate rise.

Wimbledofy1 votes

darius is fun because he wins every lane.

Pimasterchampion1 votes

swain is fun bc it feels good to chip away at everyone's health and see yours rise

3TWarrior1 votes

personally I thought he was fun because he actually involves "interaction" instead of mechanical intensity and counterbuilding

I felt betrayed when riot first nerfed swain (before his recent update) because of deathfire touch when he was only picked because yasuo had an above 50% winrate with warlord's bloodlust and he could handle a lot of the newly overpowered champions by surviving their insane burst and sustain

however, when I actually looked at the new swain, I basically said, "oh crap, riot buffed him to his doom!" 5 crows now will make him intrinsically unbalanced because he can harm the entire enemy team at once. I like the theme where his Q can adjust to a new target and deals extra damage to minions so that he can farm with it in addition to his clunky auto attacks, but it seems like so many decisions riot makes do not follow logic, reason or even just common sense

MLDzXnRRR3 votes

Champins with mobility or some kind of rewarding button mashing combo will always be popular Yasuo LeeSin Riven Gangplank Ezreal Lucian Thresh Some champions are picked only because they are considered OP - (I took a break for some months and when I came back to Lol everyone was playing Caitlyn - a champion with a pretty damn boring kit just because of her broken crits and traps) Guys like Galio Mordekaiser Urgot are slow, ugly and played only when overpowered.

Valeckserai2 votes

Lol, that last comment is wrong. Not everyone only plays champs because they are broken if they aren't popular. I have a friend who is mastery level 6 on both Galio and Urgot and is working on mastery level 5 with Morde, he plays them because he finds them incredibly fun to use and likes succeeding with off meta picks.

MLDzXnRRR1 votes

{quoted}

Lol, that last comment is wrong. Not everyone only plays champs because they are broken if they aren't popular. I have a friend who is mastery level 6 on both Galio and Urgot and is working on mastery level 5 with Morde, he plays them because he finds them incredibly fun to use and likes succeeding with off meta picks.

I'm not talking about the 1tricks or people that main some unpopular champions. I'm talking about what the most people are playing and find fun. I've been reported in the past for picking Urgot (in Season 4) in a normal blind pick game :D

Aeszarck1 votes

{quoted}

Lol, that last comment is wrong. Not everyone only plays champs because they are broken if they aren't popular. I have a friend who is mastery level 6 on both Galio and Urgot and is working on mastery level 5 with Morde, he plays them because he finds them incredibly fun to use and likes succeeding with off meta picks.

I think MLDzXnRRR means that they're played frequently overall. There will always be players of those Champions, but there won't be many unless the Champion is really strong, like Galio during URF.

deadlychuck1 votes

Agreed. I find champions who are actually OP to be extremely unfun, because there is no effort involved in playing them once you've gotten a little bit of practice.

Ironically i don't play any of the champions that have "some kind of rewarding button mashing combo", probably because input complexity isn't exactly difficult to pull off, unless you're having to fight finger cramps maybe.

Doozku1 votes

Wait gp is button mashy and has high mobility? Well I guess he runs fast but that's nothing compared to any other champion there.

MLDzXnRRR2 votes

{quoted}

Wait gp is button mashy and has high mobility? Well I guess he runs fast but that's nothing compared to any other champion there.

" button mashing combo" aka his barrel combo

3TWarrior1 votes

well, a lot of GP's power does involve setting up barrel combinations before your opponent can react to them

Mordepool1 votes

Play rate matters only so much as to reassure riot when they fuck up and a champions playrate cuts in half.
Like the assassin ahri rework or morde rework q

Ok sure but why1 votes

Blitzcrank is neither good to look at or hear

but <3

PokladnicaZla1 votes

Playrate on it's isn't a good measurment of balance,but combined with banrate/winrate/loserate it can be pretty informative.

Covert Ops Gnar1 votes

That's why Jinx was so popular

then they made other adcs more broken so they overshadow her

deadlychuck1 votes

It's more the fact that he's had an obscenely high play rate for years. That kinda implies something about him is favoring the player's enough that they keep playing him.

If i had to guess... probably the fact that literally every single one of his abilities can be used offensively or defensively, and do reasonable, or insane in the case of his ult, damage.

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